I awoke on a field of golden grass. Wet dirt clung to my naked back. A loincloth, like the kind sumo wrestlers wear, covered my privates. I yawned and stretched, as if it were just another day.

I felt oddly good for a man who’d just died in a meteor strike. Perhaps this was heaven. I looked up and marveled at the sight of three crescent moons, each lighting what seemed to be an evening sky with a milky tone.

Across from me stood a series of withered stone pillars. Taut vines grew across them, as if trying to pull the stone back into the earth. I walked closer and noticed the mold growing on the stone, casting the ruins in an emerald green beneath the moonlight.

It resembled something out of Ancient Greece, but even older and less cared for. Obviously, judging by the three moons in the sky, I was no longer on Earth. But it reassured me to know that this new world had – at least in the past – a civilization, too.

I walked deeper within the ruins. Giant stone blocks formed what looked to be the main building, though vines and moss covered it. It seemed to be some sort of palace, but the earth was reclaiming it all. A dead fountain with strange, defaced statues stood in the center of the plaza. The stench of mold, stone, and mist pervaded the place. Small pools of stagnant water covered a stone path, above which buzzed green fireflies, twinkling in the night.

Beauty and death – these were the two words I’d use to describe wherever I’d been reborn. Truth be told, I didn’t believe in heaven or hell or god, but reincarnation seemed plausible. Judging from my body, which was the same tan color though with far leaner and more chiseled lines, I was the same person. The skinny fat I’d gained from my lazy lifestyle seemed to have been burned away in my rebirth.

My medium-sized hands looked exactly the same. I went to one of the stagnant pools of water and stared at my face. My hair was shorter, as if I’d been given an army cut, but my face was unchanged and I looked every bit my mid-twenties self.

So I’d died and been reborn and allowed to keep my memories. Why? What was I meant to do here?

The clack-clack of steps on stone sounded from behind. I spun around. A woman stood by the dead fountain. Her blue hair shimmered like sapphires in the glow of the three crescents. In her hand, she held a katana that seemed as tall as her, except the blade was formed from ice.

I looked into her azure eyes, so stunningly beautiful. Despite the intensity of her weapon, I sensed that she feared me with how much her eyes bulged.

“Who are you?” she asked in English. I couldn’t quite place her accent. Exotic, for sure.

I raised my hands, hoping that would douse her fear a bit. “My name’s Remy. Remy Aaron. Can you tell me where I am?”

She looked me up and down. I kept my focus on her eyes, hoping to glean what I could about her emotional state. With how they glistened, and from the slight smile that spread across her soft lips, fear and hope both seemed to take her.

“So, you’re the traveler,” she said. “You’ve come here to Lumaria from another world. But if you’re looking for paradise, you’ve come too late, I’m afraid. This world has already ended.”

“Ended? What do you mean?”

“I’m talking about the Cataclysm.”

I scratched my eyebrow. That wasn’t much of answer. “But if the world already ended, why are you still here?”

“I’m a survivor. You were summoned here by another survivor. To help us.”

Wait… could that witch I saw waiting at the crosswalk have been from this world, too? Could she have summoned the meteor that killed me and, somehow, caused me to respawn here?

This blue-haired girl with the ice katana seemed somewhat similar in dress. She, too, wore a skirt that allowed her perfect thighs to show and stockings that reached just above her knees. But the blue-haired girl’s top was different. Her breasts were fully covered but her perfectly flat midriff lay exposed. Athletic was the perfect word to describe her.

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“Sorry, I haven’t told you my name. I’m Esmerelda. Esme, for short.”

A beautiful name to match her face and body. “Nice to meet you, Esme. Can you tell me why I’m here?”

“Of course. It’s honestly been a long time since I’ve had the pleasure of conversing with anyone new, so excuse my poor manners.”

“You’ve been lovely, so far. No need to apologize.”

A blush blossomed on her pale face. “Thank you, sir. I have not been complimented in a long time.”

It wasn’t really much of a compliment. At least, no girl back home would take it as such. “So, tell me — what am I supposed to do here?”

She held the ice katana in one hand, letting the blade touch the ground, then twirled one of her azure locks. “Sorry, I’m honestly struggling to figure out the words. Hmm. Let’s start with—”

A howl rent the air. Sounded like a thousand ferocious crows, squawking at once with the force of an earthquake. The world darkened as a shadow hovered over us. A golden wing covered the three crescents, and as it flapped, wind whipped against us and sent golden grass flying across the plaza.

“A manticore!” Esme shouted. “It must’ve been drawn here by our presence.”

The massive creature's face finally came into view as it perched upon the crumbled palace, just in front of us. It was not what I expected – though its talons and feathers were that of a giant falcon, its face was of a wolf. It stared at us with hungry, yellow eyes. Canines stuck out of its mouth, each jagged and twice our size.

“Run!” I shouted, though my feet were frozen.

“There’s nowhere to run. We’re in a wide open area, and it wants nothing more than to feast upon living souls. We have to kill it!”

Kill it? But how? Was she going to slash it to bits with her katana?

Esme ran to my side as the flying beast howled once more, this time causing my very bones to shudder and ears to pop.

“What do we do?” I asked, my voice jittery.

“We must soulbond. It’s the only way to defeat a souleater.”

“Soulbond? What does that mean?”

“There’s no time to explain. But you must agree, or else I can’t do it.” She gazed at me with puppy dog eyes. “Will you soulbond with me, Remy?”

How was I supposed to agree to something without knowing what it meant? After another shriek from the manticore that made my heart quake, it became obvious I had no choice.

“Yes. I agree.”

A wisp of blue light shot out of Esme’s chest. It flew into mine. This luminescence connected us, and for a moment I could feel her heartbeat. Her fears and hopes. I saw through her eyes, gazing at myself, and realized that her feelings for me mirrored my feelings for her. We were both in awe of each other. But beneath that awe simmered something more carnal that we didn’t want to show. Something that made my blood rush.

SOULBOND OF ICE LEVEL 1 UNLOCKED

NAME: Esme

CLASS: Ice Rogue

Strength: 3

Intelligence: 3

Agility: 5

Endurance 2

Vigor: 1

Mind: 1

Luck: 2

WEAPON UNLOCKED: ICE KATANA

NEW ICE ABILITY UNLOCKED

Her ice katana vanished from her hands with a flurry of light. It reappeared in mine. Somehow, despite being so solid, it felt like a plastic toy katana I’d played with as a child.

Instinctively, I raised it in front of my face. The beast bellowed once more, then flapped its wings, sending golden grasses flying against us as small stones clattered against the broken pathway.

“We are bonded, now,” Esme said. “My power is your power. But you, Remy, are able to multiply my power. I alone cannot defeat a manticore, but you can. Every power I gain will be yours, multiplied by the strength of our bond.”

I could feel her power channeling into me from the luminescent blue tether that connected our souls. It surged and burst through my veins. Ice mana.

The beast soared above us, then swooped down, saliva dripping from its canines. I dodged and slid under one of its wings as it chomped on the stone beneath me, then glided across and up, doing a one-eighty degree turn to face us again.

“Holy hell,” I said. “That thing really wants to eat us.”

I took a stance with my katana like I’d seen in all the anime and videogames I’d played. Because it was so light, I could hold it forward at a straight angle above my shoulder, one-handed.

“Not just our bodies,” Esme said, breathless, as she stood behind me. “It wants our very souls. It wants to truly end humanity. Destroy it, Remy. First, freeze it so it can’t get away!”

Freeze it. Instinctively, I knew what she meant. I let the ice mana from our soulbond coalesce in my other hand. Then I molded it into an ice ball, which floated weightlessly above my palm.

The manticore screamed. This time, its shockwave made us stumble backward. I slid against the ground as it swooped. But it wasn’t going for me. Esme struggled to maintain her balance. The wicked creature’s jaw opened wide.